Radev rages against parliament's constitutional amendments
President Rumen Radev will use the Constitutional Court to dispute changes to the Constitution law, voted by the parliament and entered into force on December 22, 2023, accusing the changes of "containing contradictions with other constitutional provisions, and changing the balance between the different powers".
Apparently Radev mainly disputes the texts related to his powers and the formation of caretaker cabinets that the parliament wants to change (Radev ruled for months via caretaker cabinets), as well as how the changes were made. The core changes related to the judiciary and the formation of a new judicial council are not contested by him.
The amendments, adopted with the votes of the ruling coalition between GERB, WCC-DB and DPS, focus mainly on judicial power, but also change the way the official offices will be formed and introduce dual citizenship for MPs and ministers.
Bulgarian hydrogen secures landmark deal
The Bulgarian company Green Innovation, which has been operating under the Hydrogenera name since the beginning of 2023, is working on its first order for a megawatt electrolyzer for the production of green hydrogen.
The contract signed is for an alkaline electrolyser, and at this stage no storage systems for the produced hydrogen are included, which means that it will be used directly.
The company told Kapital that an advance payment of 50% has been made, but they do not specify the exact amount, nor who is the contractor. However, according to international estimates, a similar project with a capacity of 1 MW costs about 300 thousand euros, and a potential user of the installation would be a small plant that still uses hydrogen in its operations, but one obtained from natural gas, for example.
WCC-DB welcomes ministers' replacement
Atanas Atanasov, the co-chairman of WCC-DB, announced that during the rotation of the prime ministers in March, any minister from the current cabinet can be replaced. He emphasized that Mariya Gabriel will be prime minister and as such she will propose the personal composition of the next government. He said that she will most likely be ready with the names by then, and upon receiving the mandate from President Rumen Radev, she will return the folder with the names of the new ministers.
Atanasov also said that all the parties in the WCC-DB coalition will jointly evaluate the government and the work of the ministers, "so that the rotation can be conducted painlessly and smoothly in March".
